Featured: Top 10 Best Apps – January 2013

Here at Android Headlines we know that apps are important in the everyday life of an Android user. That’s why we like to take the time to bring together the Best 10 Apps from the month together in one place for you to peruse over. It’s been a long time since we did a list like this and there’s been some good apps to come out since then. We know that there are a lot of apps out there and we don’t always get it right or, you might have an awesome app to suggest. We encourage healthy discussion in the comments below and over the weekend is a great time to get to grips with some new apps. These are our Top 10 apps but, we want to hear some of your favorites in the comments below! Let’s get started shall we:

10. Zoner Mobile Security

Is Malware on Android as big a threat as a lot of the news outlets keep leading us to believe? Probably not. Is it getting worse? Of course it is. The fact of the matter is that as a platform grows more and more users there are always going to be people looking for ways to exploit this. It’s the same with Windows, it wouldn’t be so big a target if there weren’t so many users on the platform, the same is becoming true of Android, with more fish to catch comes more fisherman. Zoner Mobile Security is here to give you all the help you need in making sure you’re all safe and tucked in at night, there’s phone filtering, backup options and even ad detection to boot. It’s well worth a try, although it is a little expensive to help augment your own common sense.

9. Vocre Translate

One of the biggest barriers separate us human beings is language, however technology is one of the things that can help us get to grips with and break down the language barrier. Google Translate has long been doing the rounds and we’ve enjoyed the app for years but there’s always room for competition and when it comes to apps there’s more room than ever. Vocre is a new app that is designed to help you translate between languages easier than ever before. However, there seem to be some issues with certain languages, the app is clean and fully featured with an easy to use interface. Well worth looking into if you’re working abroad or are a big traveler.

8. Battery Nova Live Wallpaper

For us smartphone users there is always one thing that we keep an eye more than anything it’s battery life. Our smartphones are under constant attack from HD video, apps and games. Keeping an eye on how much longer we have with our batteries is something that we don’t really enjoy checking on our battery meters all the time so, anything that can make it more bearable is something is always a good thing. Now, when we talk about something that will make keeping an eye on our battery life enjoyable and good-looking, that’s a whole other thing and for those that like to customize their devices, a live wallpaper that shows you your battery life must sound awesome. It’s hard to explain more than that so, just go ahead and give the app a go!

7. Weather Live

Hey look! Another weather app! That’s right, Weather Live is another weather application in which to get all the up-to-date info on whether or not you need a coat or if it’s going to be snowing. Here in the U.K. we’re experiencing a little snow fall and keeping an eye on the weather comes in handy. The app promises to be “the most beautiful weather app. Ever.” I’m not sure I agree with that but, it’s certainly a good-looking weather app and if you’re really into checking the weather all the time then you can never have too many of these weather apps. Give the app a try to see if you have room for another weather app in your life.

6. Runtastic Heart Rate Pro

When exercising, you need to keep a check of your heart rate to make sure that you’re not pushing yourself too hard, lest you do yourself any harm. There’s always an app for something and there’s an app for checking your heart rate. Of course, there are a lot of Heart Rate apps out there but not all apps are born equal and Runtastic’s Heart Rate Pro is an app that looks and works brilliantly. It’s got a look that will be at home on any Galaxy Nexus or Nexus 4 thanks to its Holo theme. There’s also some fancy graphing to help things out as well. It’s a very good app but it’s a pretty expensive app, whether or not it’s worth it depends on if you’re actually going to use it.

5. PPSSPP

Besides a question and difficult to master name, there is a lot on offer from this PSP Emulator. I think we’ve all got fond memories of the PSP and there were some brilliant games that came out for the handheld, like a couple of GTA titles and titles from the God of War series. Of course, there are far more titles that we popular on the device than those, and soon it looks like we’ll be able to play them all with this emulator. There are some caveats to go along with this though and that’s mostly that this is an app very much under development. Most games don’t work right now and it’s nowhere near fully optimized on Android just yet. This is very much a tech demo right now and if you want to take a look at it, then go ahead but, don’t be disappointed if your favorite PSP game is not ready for Android consumption just yet.

4. AppCard

AppCard is a new app that will help you to redeem points from a Universal Points scheme that will you give you something back on your shopping at your favorite stores. It’s nice to get something back from your purchases and with AppCard there is perhaps more an opportunity to than ever before. In the grand of scheme of things this is one of things that you’ll get out what you put in and the more you use the app the better. What stores near you will give you something back is subject to availability and so it’s good to go and take a look at the app before you get too excited. It can’t be all bad though can it, if Eric Schmidt himself has invested in the app now can it?

3. Press Reader

Google Reader is a wondrous thing and most of us have been getting our news that for years now. What’s so great about it is that you can easily plug the service into other apps, such as the stunning Press reader. The app came out last year and it’s been an absolute dream for me to use. It’s got a great tablet UI as well, making this one complete Google Reader app. The fact that it looks stunning also doesn’t hurt, now does it? With Press you can rest assured you’re getting the latest news in a very easy to read fashion, thankfully there’s no extra set up as there can be with Pulse et al. If you know what you like in your Google Reader, then you’ll love this.

2. Agenda

Calendars. We all hate using them but when we really need them they become pretty damn vital and if you’re a busy bee then a good calendar app will become your best friend. Google’s own calendar on app on Android is generally pretty good but there’s little in the way of diversity, with the popular iOS app Agenda, that has finally crossed into the light, you can do all sorts of stuff with your schedule. The best hing about the app is that it strips down your agenda into just what you need to see and it makes dealing with daily and weekly events easy as pie. At a glance features and an overall clean UI are the main selling points of Agenda and they’re definitely worth taking a look at if you don’t like the cluttered look of other calendars.

1. Simple

Banking is never a lot of fun, especially when all of these powerful smartphones don’t have as good access to our money as they ought to. Simple is a new bank that now has a stunning app available for Android. It’s an online bank so for those that are always on the web and always on the go, this is a match made in heaven. It’s worth checking about the Simple bank first before you go salivating over the app – because that’s what you’ll do when you see how great it looks. Banking apps have taken a long time for all the banks to get behind and none of them are as good as Simple’s offering. It’s clean, simple and most importantly, sophisticated. So long now have Banks been giving us poor apps for our smartphones, Simple does the opposite however and it’s perhaps the best way to deal with your money on the go.